# St Ronan's School

Saint Ronan's School is an independent co-educational preparatory school for boys and girls from 3 to 13 years located in Hawkhurst in Kent, England. It currently has about 440 pupils, the majority of them day pupils, although boarding is available from Monday night through to Thursday night for all pupils from Year 4 upwards. The present headmaster is Joe Lewis. The school was named Tatler UK Prep School of the Year in 2017-2018 and TES Prep School of the Year 2021.

## History

The school was founded in 1883 and was originally located in Worthing in Sussex. During the Second World War, the school was evacuated to Bicton Park near Exmouth in Devon, but afterwards moved to its present location in Tongswood House.
The house was remodelled in the late 19th century for William Cotterill, owner c. 1868 to 1892, of a mercantile family from Birmingham. Tongswood later belonged to Charles Eugene Gunther (died 1931), head of the Liebig Extract of Meat Company which later became known as OXO, who was High Sheriff of Kent in 1926.
Sir Richard Vassar-Smith, 3rd Baronet, was headmaster from 1957 to 1971, and was succeeded by his son, Sir John Vassar-Smith, 4th Baronet, who was headmaster of the school until his retirement in 1997.

## Notable alumni

Former pupils of Saint Ronan's School include:
* Lindsay Anderson, film and theatre director
* Julian Asquith, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Asquith, colonial administrator and hereditary peer
* Christopher Battiscombe, diplomat
* Richard Rodney Bennett, composer
* Bill Benyon, Member of Parliament
* Mark Bonham Carter, Baron Bonham-Carter, Member of Parliament and publisher
* Raymond Bonham Carter, banker
* Robert Bray, soldier
* Richard Bridgeman, 7th Earl of Bradford, peer and restaurateur
* Nick Brown, Member of Parliament
* Patrick Chichester, 8th Marquess of Donegall, peer
* Iain Cochrane, 15th Earl of Dundonald, peer
* Sampson Collins, cricket journalist
* Peter Dickinson, author and poet
* Frank Gardner, journalist (BBC Security Correspondent)
* Michael Grylls, Member of Parliament
* Patrick Hadley, composer
* David Heathcoat-Amory, Member of Parliament
* Osbert Lancaster, cartoonist
* Laddie Lucas, Royal Air Force officer, left-handed golfer, author and Member of Parliament
* Donald Maclean (spy)
* Christopher Makins, 2nd Baron Sherfield, peer, Anglo-American diplomat, foreign policy expert, and author
* César Mange de Hauke, art dealer
* Airey Neave, British soldier, lawyer and Member of Parliament
* Francis Newall, 2nd Baron Newall, peer
* Martin Nourse, Lord Justice of Appeal of England and Wales
* John Palmer, 4th Earl of Selborne, British peer, ecological expert, and businessman
* Matthew Parish, olympic rower
* Thomas Ponsonby, 3rd Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede, Chairman of the Greater London Council, Labour Chief Whip 1982-1990
* John Raven, Classical scholar and botanist
* General Sir Charles Richardson, Chief Royal Engineer and Master-General of the Ordnance
* E. Clive Rouse, archaeologist
* Charles Saumarez Smith, British cultural historian specialising in the history of art, design and architecture
* Mark Shand, travel writer, conservationist and brother to Queen Camilla
* Philip Sidney, 2nd Viscount De L'Isle, peer
* James Simpson, naval officer and explorer
* Michael Whinney, Church of England bishop
* Bella Maclean, Actor